MARRIAGES FOR CHURCH ONLY: Daniel J.H. Greenwood

Marriage is a fundamental human right. For many of us, and our churches, it is a holy act; in some religions even a sacrament. These two facts point to the only decent American solution to the gay marriage controversy. Marriage belongs in church, not in the courthouse or the legislature.

The separation of church and state is fundamental to American democracy. We are the most religious people in the democratic world -- because early on we recognized that majority rule should not apply to telling people how to worship their God. The First Amendment makes democracy possible without either religious unanimity or religious apathy, or, more likely, constant religious war. Our churches are free to develop, debate and persuade without state support or interference, and our politics can proceed without fear that temporary majorities will use the power of the state to forcibly oppress religious minorities. The state and all churches are stronger for it.

The government must provide civil union. Families are one of the fundamental units on which our legal system is built. Couples act as one family unit for many purposes -- home ownership, taxation, hospital visitation, Social Security, parenting, child care, adoption, school choice, welfare, debt repayment and bankruptcy, inheritance. Moreover, children are born into special relationships with their parents, both natural and legal, which must be defined and then change as the child matures and leaves home.

The law could not function without a mechanism for telling when two people have joined into one family. So, it must register unions and have some standards for when they have begun and what must be done to end them. And since we are a democracy founded upon principles of equality, justice requires that civil union be available to all citizens without discrimination.

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posted by Eve at 1:17 PM VOTE

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